If you have one of these types of fobs for your Ford:



You know full well how easy it is to accidentally push the red alarm button and annoy the he11 out of you and your neighbors while you dig your keys out of your pocket just to shut the d*@&#ed thing off. This happened to me just yesterday with my work van, so today I decided I would see what I could find on the innernets to help prevent this.

Unfortunately, the only solutions I found were how to totally disable the button. Normally, just cut the button off and cover the hole with black tape. Not good enough for me... I still want to be able to set the alarm off. I just don't want it to be as easy as it is. So, I dug out a couple of new fobs that were given to me by a friend who purchased a new truck and had no further use for the unused/unprogrammed fobs.

Since they were free, I decided to start experimenting with them, and found it IS POSSIBLE to modify these fobs to make it much more difficult to activate the alarm WITHOUT totally disabling it!

You'll need the fob, and small flat screwdriver and a hobby knife. In lieu of the hobby knife, you could use a utility knife or razor blade.





The first step is to disassemble the fob. If you've never disassembled one of these fobs, start here. Otherwise, skip to the second post.


To begin with, pry the case of the fob apart using the screwdriver on both sides of the keyring loop;




Once the two halves are slightly apart,



just go ahead and pull them away from each other.





Now use either the lock or unlock button to push the silicon keypad and electronics board away from the front half of the case.





Now you've got thee parts.. the back half of the case with the battery, the empty front half and the keypad/electronics board together.




You'll need to separate the keypad from the electronics board by carefully peeling the silicon keypad off the board.




Now you should have 4 components.

 

Now it's time to get down to business!


You'll notice there's a little nib under the alarm button that fills up the space between the keypad and the actual button on the electronics board.




The goal here is to remove that nib using the knife. Bend the silicon keypad in half so the nib is sticking up. Don't worry.. it's silicon. Soft and flexible so it won't break.






Using whatever blade you have, carefully cut the nib off.





Be careful not to cut too deep or you'll end up slicing a hole through the silicon. This should be avoided to prevent dirt and debris from getting into the fob.




If you did it right, this is what you'll end up with:






Now you just need to reassemble the fob in the reverse order in post 1.

 

So exactly what difference does it make? Well, even with a video it would be hard to explain. It not only takes a lot more force to activate the alarm, but it must be more 'concentrated' on the button itself. Once I made this modification, I couldn't 'just' push on the button... I have to make a concerted effort to push my fingertip deep into the hole where the button sits to push the switch under it.

To illustrate this, I set up my video camera and aimed it at both an unmodified and a modified fob resting on a scale (reset to 0 after the fobs were placed on it). I set the camera to record at a high frame rate, and taped a microphone on the scale so I could use the audible 'click' on the audio track to show where in the video the button was actually pressed. From this, I was able to get screen captures from the movie of the amount of pressure imposed on each fob to click the switch under the keypad.

For the unmodified fob, it took an average of 435.7 grams to activate the switch.






After modification, it takes almost 2½ times the pressure to accomplish this.





I will now take these two new fobs and use them for my 'everyday' fobs on the keyrings for both my vehicles. Hopefully, no more false alarms, but still be able to set it off should I need to!

 

Never had an issue like you have had. I don't hit buttons without looking at the remote i guess. Nice write up non the lest.

 

It's not ME pushing the button... it's the stuff in my pockets.

 

Would be easier to just hang your key on your belt loop.....

 

No can do. I work in peoples homes and I can't be scratching their stuff up.

 

Hey what ever works for you, just seem like a lot of work for something so simple to fix.

 

It was five times the work just to take the photos.

I did the second one in less than two minutes. It ain't rocket surgery.

 

$2 key chain clip....Done.

 

You win. Your way is the best possible solution for everyone.

Never again should I offer a FREE and EASY solution for a problem.

Now, how about a link for this $2 miracle cure?

 

Never said it was best. I said what ever works for you. You had extra fob to work with. other would need to buy them. Miracle???? Come on dude. I did say it was a good write up.
Don't stop what your doing.